Energy crisis meets food crisis amid bio-fuels backlash

Business Features

Apr 14, 2008, 13:03 GMT

Washington - Efforts by industrialized countries to reduce their dependence on foreign energy sources and cut climate-changing emissions has prompted a strong backlash from some developing nations dealing with a worsening food crisis.

2008 Chevy Tahoe, a E85 Flex-Fuel vehicle prepared to take in Coskata's ethanol in late 2008, outside Coskata lab in Warrenville, Illinois, USA, 07 January 2007. On 13 January 2008 General Motors announced a partnership with Coskata Inc. to use the company's breakthrough technology that affordably and efficiently makes ethanol from practically any renewable source, including garbage, old tires and plant waste. EPA/KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI The problem lies in bio-fuels, an alternative source of energy that is often made from food crops. The World Bank last week said that a boost in bio-fuels production was largely to blame for an 83- per-cent increase in food prices over the last three years. High food prices, which the development bank says are unlikely to fall dramatically before 2015, have prompted severe food shortages and even riots in poorer countries. Some ministers attending the World Bank's annual spring meeting on Sunday expressed outrage - publicly and privately - that richer nations were feeding their petrol needs while people in the developing world were starving. 'In a world where there is hunger and poverty, there is no policy justification for diverting food crops towards bio-fuels,' Indian Finance Minister P Chidambaram said in a statement, calling for an end to all subsidies for food-derived fuels. 'Converting food into fuel is neither good policy for the poor nor for the environment.' Dominique Strauss-Kahn, head of the World Bank's sister-lender, the International Monetary Fund, said that many ministers expressed similar concerns to him privately over the weekend - some labelling food-to-fuel production a 'crisis of humanity.' Both Strauss-Kahn and World Bank President Robert Zoellick have said that the current food crisis threatens to destroy the gains made since 2000 in reducing poverty around the world. Hundreds of thousands of people are threatened with starvation, Strauss-Kahn said Thursday, while the World Bank estimates that 33 nations could face social unrest from food shortages. Haiti's legislature sacked the government on Saturday after at least five people were killed this month in food riots. Zoellick, while not calling for a halt in bio-fuels production, said that industrial nations thirsting for energy had even more reason to meet an urgent call for 500 million dollars in food aid by the end of the month. Advanced economies, though recognizing the threat that high food prices pose to poor countries, have been slow to address the crisis' link to their own energy needs. US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said that bio-fuels did not come up Friday during a meeting of finance ministers from the world's top seven industrialized nations, though they did express concern over the food price surge. The United States and Brazil are the world's largest producers of ethanol - a fuel for cars that the Bush administration has made a key element of its bid to cut reliance on oil from foreign and sometimes hostile countries. US ethanol producers use chiefly maize, while Brazil's production relies on sugar cane as a raw material. Other methods used in various countries use edible oils to produce diesel fuel. In the United States, soya-based bio-diesel is a fast-growing product. Bio-fuels have been hailed as an answer to climate change - a clean, renewable energy alternative that can reduce industrial nations' emissions of greenhouse gases, which are blamed for global warming. That prospect creates a paradox for developing countries struggling with high food prices but also fearful of the potentially devastating consequences of climate change. The World Bank has been quick to acknowledge differences in how various bio-fuels are produced: some are more energy efficient than others. Most scientists consider Brazil's sugar-cane ethanol a very energy-efficient process, while both Zoellick and Strauss-Kahn touted promising research into 'second-generation' bio-fuels that would use non-food sources such as grass or wood chips. US production of maize-based ethanol is highly subsidized and has been criticized by a growing number of scientists as only slightly less energy intensive than oil. In a report last week on food prices, the World Bank said that US ethanol ate up nearly all of the increased global maize production from 2004-07, when the crop's prices rose most sharply. Wheat, soy and palm oil prices have all been hit by increased bio- fuel production, the World Bank said. 'While many are worried about filling their gas tanks, many others around the world are struggling to fill their stomachs,' Zoellick said Thursday.

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SP4: Food for fuelApr 14th, 2008 - 13:16:43

great idea, huh?

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AmericaApr 27th, 2008 - 08:49:11

Its america's fault, this food crisis. Damn america!

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DannyMay 1st, 2008 - 23:51:51

It's overpopulation. There are almost 7 times more people on this planet than what the planet can actually support.

And now with all the glaciers and snow packs melting, and aquifers being drained, there will be even less food.

So guys get a vasectomy and do the world a favor.

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leeMay 2nd, 2008 - 02:52:06

There are several facts that people are missing here. The maize used to make ethanol is not the same that we use for food. It is the corn used for feed for livestock. The reason it is more expensive now is because the dollar has lost its value. Funny how this is blamed on the producer and not the actual problem here. It seems to be another ploy by the oil companies to discredit alternate fuel sources. Much like they tried to discredit the Saturn electric car in the 90's by claiming that coal electrical plants would have to produce more electricity and harming the environment more than having a gasoline car.

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SP44May 26th, 2008 - 04:21:03

Corn should be used as food for human beings and pigs. So this is all America's fault.

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NoharnessMay 28th, 2008 - 11:53:15

I did try to warn everyone. Ethanol is a piss-poor fuel for the internal combustion engine. Ethanol from cellulose is just another whiz-bang piece of vapor-ware. You want fuel from cellulose? You have two good options. Make charcoal out of it, or put it into digesters and extract methane from it. Both charcoal and methane are excellent fuels, especially for stationary engines.

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patriotJun 5th, 2008 - 19:48:33

Nationalization of Natural Resources in North America, (OIL)

It is now time for the current US Congress to draft a law that will authorize the use of the Armed Forces of America to seize control of all Oil reserves, assets, and property within the borders of the United States of America. Americans are suffering financially because of the profiteering that is being sanctioned by the current Congress. The very survival of America will depend on the controls and relief to the consumer. By controlling the oil and refining process, the final price to the consumer can drop back to levels in the two digit margin, i.e. 39 cents. It is now a matter of National Security that this happen within a very short period of time, or every American will suffer the financial burden of out of control price per gallon for fuel, thus driving up every consumer product and service beyond the affordable means of an average income American.

The American Republic will recommend that the current US Congress and President be held accountable for this 'crime against Humanity' as well as numerous others.

It is time to fire the US Congress and President, now and in November, 2008. A new Republic for North America is underway.

We are a Legion of many, who will live a life of peace, and have respect for all living things, while having considerations for those who are different, and look for ways to truly accommodate those who are slow in understanding.

We support the poor, helpless, and defenseless people. We support the freedom of Women, we support the sane treatment of animals and the environment, we support the freedom of religion and expression. We do not support ignorance, period.

We are a growing nation of people that encourage anyone or Nation anywhere to become part of the New American Republic!

NOVUS ORDO SECLORUM
Judah Ben-Hur, Sui Juris
Ambassador
The American Republic
Diplomatic Mission: North America

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Dan the conquerorJun 9th, 2008 - 17:09:59

The issue here isn't that people can't eat the corn we grow, it's that farmers who previously grew eddible food are now converting their feilds to grow the corn for ethanol, and ethanol STILL leads to global warming!!! the only kind of ethanol that is truly good for the environment is sugar cane ethanol, and we don't even support that.

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